Full-Time Magister: The Strongest Summoned Beast is Actually Myself

Chapter 155, World Bounty Mission.

During this time, Chen Hao did not participate in the battle at all, and completely sat by and watched everything happen. He was never the kind of person who liked to save the world.

The same was true for the other members of the Nationalist government, and the Peruvian side wisely refrained from seeking help from these young masters.

Ai Jiangtu's group, however, showed some promise. It was clear that several joint mining areas had also been attacked by Nazca monsters, but thanks to the presence of the Dragon Kingdom army and the formidable strength of the National Government team, they were safe and sound.

However, this is only temporary. The Grim Reaper of Nazca will not let go of any target he has his eye on, unless the curse is lifted!

Otherwise, a week later, an army of millions of strange birds will appear!!!

It's hard to say whether Lima can hold on then.

……

Soon, news of the disaster in Peru spread around the world via the internet.

Vast swathes of western land have fallen, more than a dozen barrier-free towns have been completely destroyed, and countless people have been massacred, disappeared, or even torn apart and devoured by strange birds—a series of heart-wrenching videos of the scene have gone viral on social media, spreading like a virus in various languages!

The international community was immediately shocked!
The American Magical Association held an emergency special meeting in an attempt to coordinate resources from multiple countries to aid Peru, but failed to come up with any substantial mobilization plan.

And that word finally surfaced, quickly replacing "Feathered Demon Crisis" as the headline news of major media outlets and magical institutions:
—【The Nazca Curse】

This is a word as deep as an abyss; once you're targeted, it will haunt you like a curse until you die.

Scholars, media, public forums, governments around the world, and even the High Magic Council have all launched investigations, speculations, conspiracy theories, and heated debates surrounding it.

As the mechanisms underlying the "Nazca Curse" were revealed, the world fell into a brief silence and panic:
Hundreds of strange birds on the first day,

A week later, thousands

Tens of thousands more in another week,
100,000 in the third week.
After that, hundreds of millions of winged demons will target the "curse mark" and frantically slaughter everything!
The most terrifying thing is that this curse is contagious!
You will be marked as long as you have attacked the Feathered Demon.

Once marked, it is valid for life.

No matter where you flee, the Grim Reaper of Nazca will follow your every move and relentlessly hunt you down.

Initially, some people on the internet raised questions:
"How could such an absurd setting exist? Wouldn't all the mages in the world have been wiped out long ago if they all joined forces?"

"Is this just a publicity stunt, something the Peruvian government made up to get international aid?"

Until the Peruvian government made the rare public release of declassified documents, revealing the truth behind the massacre of a city with a population of over thirty years ago—

That city was swallowed up by this "Nazca Lineage," leaving not even a single corpse behind.

Public opinion shifted overnight, and for the first time, the world confronted the terrifying presence that had entrenched itself deep in the South American desert since ancient times:
—The Grim Reaper of Nazca.

……

Lima held on, but the atmosphere in the entire country was like that of a dying beast, gasping for breath and covered in wounds.

That ten-hour-long air battle was like the curtain being drawn back on the prelude to the apocalypse.

Even if they ultimately manage to hold on "barely," everyone is clear on one fact:
They only survived temporarily.

Scorched feathers and blood mist still floated in the sky above the city, and the corpses had not yet been completely gathered, but fear was already spreading.

Families with even a little ability, connections, or capital almost all tried to leave the country immediately. However, the airport was taken over by the military that same day, and all exit points were sealed off.

The stated reason is to maintain stability, but no one is naive enough to believe that this is merely "order management."

Nobody wants to take in a group of people who might be carrying a curse.

Other countries are even cautious about providing official aid, let alone opening their borders.

This is a true island crisis.

……

In a hotel suite in Lima with extremely high protection levels, the National Guard team regrouped, but the atmosphere was completely different.

As soon as the meeting began, Li Kaifeng stood up abruptly, his voice trembling:

"Captain, let's run... I don't want to die here!"

He hadn't been able to sleep for days, his eyes were bloodshot, and he kept his wind-elemental magical artifact with him at all times, as if the Feathered Demon would break through the window at any moment.

"Yes, Captain!" Mu Tingying echoed urgently, her face pale. "Staying here any longer would be suicide. Lima won't last much longer. We're not soldiers; we don't need to die with them!"

"While the city isn't completely locked down, we still have a chance! Who cares about training missions—what's the point of honor if we're dead?"

Guan Yu also stepped forward, trying to persuade everyone: "This is not our battle. We are just here to go through the mission process. Who would have thought that we would run into such a natural disaster?"

Their voices grew louder and louder; what was originally just private anxiety finally erupted in public.

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

Ai Jiangtu, his face grim, slowly rose to his feet, his voice low yet firm:

"You can leave, I won't stop you. But I won't leave."

"The military mages stationed in the mining area are officially appointed by our country. Like us, they come from the Dragon Kingdom and are guardians sent here on missions. This magical resource trade cooperation is based on a military support treaty signed between our country and Peru. I don't want to be a deserter at this time."

His words were so powerful that they caused a brief silence in the room.

"Sigh, I knew it. Well then, I'm not leaving either. It's just a strange bird, what's the big deal?" Mo Fan sighed and then expressed his opinion.

"No way, are you out of your mind? That's a million-strong army!!!" Zhao Manyan exclaimed in shock.

"So what? I've survived the ancient capital catastrophe, why would I be afraid of this damn weird bird!" Mo Fan's eyes were firm, and he had already planned to use the demonic element.

"I'll stay too!"

"Me too……"

Influenced by Mo Fan's emotions, Mu Ningxue, Nan Jue, Jiang Shaoxu, Jiang Yu and others also chimed in, each of them appearing ready to risk their lives to accompany him.

Only Chen Hao and Nan Rongni remained silent, but she was definitely blindly following Chen Hao's lead.

Everyone instinctively focused their attention on Chen Hao, waiting for him to make a decision. Ai Jiangtu was afraid that he would use his authority as captain to forcibly take everyone away under the pretext of national interests.

"I've made up my mind. I'll leave after I've resolved the Nazca Curse." Chen Hao made the final decision, leaving the three who were running away with no choice but to shut up.

……

If it were any other time, Chen Hao would have left long ago and would never have put himself in this situation.

But this time—it was an exception.

[World-class bounty: End the Nazca Lines curse]

Bounty Pool: 1.67 billion (continuously increasing)
Mission objective: End the Nazca Curse and prevent a million winged demons from descending upon the human world.

This is a global public bounty posted by the Peruvian government a few days ago through the Hunters Alliance.

In its initial phase alone, the bounty pool was worth a staggering 1 billion yuan, shocking the bounty hunter community. Now, as public opinion continues to grow, the bounty pool has skyrocketed and is about to break the 2 billion yuan mark!
Chen Hao's eyes lit up. A futile attempt at salvation, a case of being ripped off;

Only salvation that brings benefits can be called professional ethics.

More importantly, thanks to his "foresight," the bounty was practically within his grasp!
He had already begun investigating the source of the Nazca Lines curse, and he had already identified the ancient Indian descendant who was suspected of stealing the gems from the Nazca Lines.

The other party was hiding in the Yale mining area. He was an ordinary, unknown miner with regular movements and a simple life. He was a very inconspicuous person.

If Chen Hao wanted to, he could take him down in a heartbeat, pin him to the ground, and make him spill everything.

But we can't act rashly in this matter.

If you act too hastily, the profits could vanish.

He was determined to get the bounty, but precisely because the amount was so large, he had to be extremely cautious. He needed to clarify two things:

First, how can we prove that the credit belongs to him?

Saving the world sounds good, but if no one sees it or acknowledges it, then you're just a attention-seeking clown, not even a scapegoat.

Second, how to conceal his source of information.

How could he know so much? And why did he make his move at this crucial moment?
Wasn't all of this premeditated? Did he steal the jewel himself, then impersonate a savior to make a fortune off the disaster by offering a reward?

This is not a conspiracy theory; it's the most basic instinct for vigilance in human society.

Chen Hao never harbored illusions about human nature, and he was prepared for how others would perceive him.

—Because he himself is not a good person.

Therefore, he knew better than anyone else: you must set up a plan in advance, gain official approval, clear yourself of suspicion, and leave behind irrefutable evidence.

So he took the initiative to find several mentors at the Nationalist government, revealing that he had clues while also expressing his concerns about potential risks.

With the help of several mentors, he was able to meet Martina Hill, a key figure in the Peruvian military and a powerful ice-type level 3 mage.

The meeting took place in a secret underground meeting room in a closed building of the Lima military district, and the entire process was unrecorded, unsensed, and unmonitored.

Martina Hill repeatedly assured them that all actions would be registered, kept confidential, and notarized by the military, and that they were willing to recognize Chen Hao's key contributions to the Nazca Lines incident through a formal treaty document.

Only now did Chen Hao truly dispel his concerns.

everything's ready.

That night, he personally captured the descendant of the ancient Native Americans. After a brutal and inhumane interrogation, he successfully retrieved the Nazca gem from the old mine where the man was hiding.
That seemingly unremarkable obsidian was engraved with strange and intricate patterns inside—like the veins of an entire desert, solidified and sealed within by some ancient force.

After the humane annihilation of the ancient Native American descendant, Chen Hao did not linger. He immediately boarded a flying parachute and left the city, heading straight for the Nazca forbidden area.

The propellers spun at high speed, emitting a piercing roar. Outside the cabin, the azure sky stretched to the horizon, the sun blazing down; below lay a vast, desolate, orange-red wilderness, like land scorched by fire, silent and eerie.

As the flight altitude continued to climb, when Chen Hao looked down at the earth from a thousand meters above, what he saw before him gave him a slight jolt.

—That's not just ordinary terrain, it's a giant painting!
On the orange-red earth, hundreds of straight and curved lines crisscross, forming a lifelike ape totem. It seems to lie quietly on the earth, with a strange face, outstretched limbs, and eyes staring straight at the sky, as if it has existed since prehistoric times, gazing at all who come.

Walking on the ground, one might only see some inexplicable lines and textures, unable to discern their meaning. But only from this bird's-eye view can one truly understand: this land is actually covered by a vast, mysterious painting!

As we continued flying forward, the terrain gradually changed.

Chen Hao soon noticed that more spiral patterns and long, straight lines appeared on the ground, so straight they were terrifying, as if they had been cut and carved by some ancient, colossal instrument.

These lines converge and intertwine, gradually outlining a giant, strange bird totem under the sun's rays!

This strange bird was much larger than the monkey image. Its wingspan seemed to span several valleys. The entire image was shrouded in a light cloud, but the cloud could not conceal its astonishing outline and oppressive aura.

It is like a sleeping death, etched on the earth, waiting to awaken.

Chen Hao's gaze was quickly drawn to a certain spot.

Using the angle of the sunlight, he keenly noticed that the eye sockets of the strange bird pattern appeared particularly dark and unbalanced, forming a stark contrast with the clarity and sharpness of the surrounding lines.

—Something is missing from that place.

His eyes narrowed, and without hesitation, he maneuvered his flying umbrella to swoop down, heading straight for the spot where the eye socket was.

"That's it..."

Landing in the center of the strange bird's eye socket, there was a slightly sunken landscape with a surface that was distinctly different from other areas—it was denser and harder, as if it had been baked by some kind of high temperature for thousands of years.

Chen Hao landed on his feet, the wind and sand brushing against his face, the blazing sun shining down. He raised the Nazca gem in his hand and slowly aimed it at a recessed stone cave in the center of the ground, about to put it back in its place.

—However, at this very moment!

"Crack——!"

The air seemed to be torn apart by some sharp blade, and a chilling aura suddenly exploded behind him, as if death itself had awakened from the shadows!
Chen Hao's brow twitched, and his instinctive ability to move instantly while remaining constantly vigilant was triggered!
next moment--

"Boom!!!"

A jet-black spear of shadow shot out from the void, slamming into the spot where he had just stood. The massive impact blasted a crater several meters in diameter into the ground. Black ripples spread outward from the spear tip, cracking the earth wherever they passed. Even the ancient, mysterious patterns of Nazca were eroded and distorted, as if they had never existed.

"Who!!" Chen Hao roared, lightning crackling around him as his gaze swept towards the source of the attack.

As the sandstorm raged and swirled, a figure draped in a black cloak slowly emerged from the horizon at the end of the lines of the monstrous bird totem.

He neither flew nor ran, but moved slowly along the ground, like a walking black mist. With each step he took, the ground darkened rapidly as if sunlight had been drawn away, as if even the sun was unwilling to shine on him.

"Not bad," the newcomer said in a sinister tone, with a hint of mockery and amusement, "You actually managed to dodge my Ghost Shadow Spear."

Chen Hao immediately spread out his mental energy to instantly detect the other party's aura, but the next second, his face darkened, and he couldn't sense anything!

Super level!

"As expected, this money isn't so easy to earn." Chen Hao's heart sank.

The next second—

"Slip away!"

Without hesitation, he turned around, and lightning suddenly exploded beneath his feet, instantly drawing a blinding lightning trail. His figure was like a rushing torrent of lightning, flying hundreds of meters away in the blink of an eye!

"Trying to run?" the man in the black cloak sneered.

The next moment, his figure suddenly twisted, disintegrating and dissolving like ink splashed in the wind, turning into countless ghostly shadows that soared into the sky, as if they were an undead legion from another dimension, shrieking and tearing through space.

"—Shadow Execution Ground".

A whisper, like the tolling of a death knell echoing between heaven and earth.

In an instant, the world changed color!
Centered on Chen Hao, an area of ​​several hundred meters suddenly fell into a deathly silence of gray-black. Sunlight was sucked away, the wind ceased, and even time seemed to stand still. Countless pitch-black torture pillars erupted from the ground, as thick as towers, densely packed like cages, one after another, sealing off the entire space!
Twisted human faces appeared on each of the torture pillars, some roaring, some weeping, some whispering—these were the souls that had died under this technique, eternally sealed away, becoming the terrifying torture instruments of the Shadow Mage!
Chen Hao frowned deeply. The oppressive atmosphere of the Shadow Execution Ground made the hairs on his body stand on end. This was probably no ordinary super-level being.

(End of this chapter)